favorite activity in a new way. In fact, I already have evening plans with anot

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The NCAA has ordered the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to vacate all the wins from their 2012 and 2013 football seasons in an academic misconduct case, it was announced Tuesday.Notre Dame announced it will appeal the decision.?Notre Dame was the national runner-up during the 2012 season, losing to Alabama in the BCS title game and finishing with a 12-1 mark. The Irish went 9-4 in 2013.According to the decision, the agreed-upon violations centered on academic misconduct by a former student athletic trainer and two football student-athletes during a three-year period. The student trainer also provided six other football players with impermissible academic benefits across 18 courses in two years.The NCAA committee on infractions prescribed a public reprimand and censure of Notre Dame, one year of probation, a two-year show-cause order for the former trainer, a two-year disassociation of the former student trainer, a vacating of all records in which ineligible student-athletes participated while ineligible during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, and a $5,000 fine.Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly, speaking at a regularly scheduled news conference, said the entire school has been cooperative throughout the investigation, and he thanked it for its support.Its never happened before in the history of the NCAA. The penalty has never been issued in this fashion before, Kelly said. I think that qualifies for being, first of all, it was discretionary. This is a discretionary action by the committee. Thats No. 1. No. 2, student-on-student cheating, nobody implicated. The NCAA agreed across the board with that finding, and it was clearly excessive, so were gonna appeal this, and one of the options or clear reasons for appeal is that the penalty is excessive in its discretion and we believe we have obvious grounds there.Kelly said he bears no culpability for the academic misconduct that occurred under his watch. He said he plans on being back in 2017 for an eighth season, saying criticism from this 4-7 season stems from the Fighting Irishs lack of success and is independent of this NCAA situation.If doing the right thing means youve got to put an asterisk next to these games, Kelly said of games he won that are subject to being vacated, thats fine by me.We still beat Oklahoma. We still beat Wake Forest. We still beat all those teams, so you can put an asterisk next to it. If that makes you feel better, then thats fine with me.Lions receiver?T.J. Jones, a key member of the 2012 and 2013 Notre Dame teams, agreed with his former coachs sentiment.We played the games. We did the practices so to me, theyre not vacated. They can take them away, but those years, those memories, the blood, sweat and tears we shared on the field, you cant take that away from us, Jones said.Technically you can take away the wins but at the end of the day, when we all get together as friends, were going to still talk about those games and those plays and those memories as if the wins were never vacated in the first place.In a statement, Kelly and the Rev. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, both said the university would appeal the decision to vacate the wins because the penalty they have imposed is not justified.We are disappointed in the actions of students who engaged in dishonesty, but we are gratified that the NCAA investigation confirmed the conclusions of our own internal investigation: Notre Dame acted honorably throughout, Jenkins said in the statement. As soon as professional staff suspected academic dishonesty on the part of a student, the matter was reported promptly, investigated aggressively and thoroughly, and adjudicated in accord with our Academic Code of Honor procedures and norms. ...We disagree with the decision of the hearing panel to impose, at its own discretion, a vacation of records penalty. In past academic misconduct cases, the Committee on Infractions has imposed this penalty only when it has found serious institutional misconduct, such as actions with the direct involvement or knowledge of a coach or academic personnel, a failure to monitor or a lack of institutional control. The NCAA enforcement staff and the hearing panel agreed with Notre Dame that no such institutional misconduct occurred in this case. Indeed, the only reason the NCAA reviewed the matter was because the misconduct involved a former fellow student who happened to participate in the Universitys student trainer program -- an activity which involved no responsibility for the academic work of student-athletes.Jenkins said in the statement that everyone involved -- including the football program and the universitys compliance office -- did everything that we could have asked of them.Two players were still enrolled when the violations were discovered and the school sought reinstatement of them through the student-athlete reinstatement process, according to the public infractions decision.The other four players were no longer enrolled when the violations were discovered and therefore were not subject to the schools academic integrity policies. The student trainers conduct was ruled unethical by Notre Dame and the NCAA. The parties agreed the violations are Level II.Additionally, another football player committed academic misconduct during two years without the involvement of a school staff member. The parties agreed these violations were Level II as well.Notre Dame had launched an internal investigation in 2014 once it became aware of potential academic misconduct by one former player and one current player. The school says it reviewed 95,000 documents. It immediately suspended the involved players from all athletic activities and, at the conclusion of the honor-code process, dismissed four players and imposed retroactive grade changes in the courses affected.We believe that imposition of the vacation of records penalty without serious underlying institutional misconduct will not primarily punish those responsible for the misconduct, but rather will punish coaches, student-athletes and indeed the entire institution who did nothing wrong and, with regard to this case, did everything right, Jenkins said in the release. We are also concerned that establishing this precedent will infringe on universities autonomy in deterring academic dishonesty, for it will discourage the retroactive lowering of grades even when an honor code committee deems this appropriate.As we said at the outset of this investigation, Notre Dame would willingly accept a vacation of records penalty if it were appropriate. It is not in this case. 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For starters, I dont trust drivers partly because, as a native New Yorker, I never got my license. I worry that I dont understand how folks behind the wheel think. These four-wheeled beasts feel foreign to me and my two-wheeled steed. It doesnt help knowing that more than 800 people lost their lives in a bicycle and motor vehicle collision in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. One in five of these fatal crashes happened between 6 p.m. and 8:59 p.m., reports the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center.Bottom line: I love my life, and putting it on the line for an evening ride never seemed worthwhile to me. I know that sounds dramatic, especially to some of my daring friends who think Im being overly cautious. Theyve long told me how peaceful and fun night riding can be. I dont doubt it. I know this bustling city, particularly Brooklyn where I live, can feel calmer in the darkness when everyones winding down from their workday. And frankly, as an anxious person, a little calm would do me good. In those ways, I realize Im missing out. This is why I was open to the idea of getting the right safety gear to finally give this a go.The detailsWhen I received an opportunity to test the new Visijax LED Cycling Jacket with Turn Signals from Sharper Image ($154.99, sharperimage.com), I initially wrote it off for the aforementioned reasons. But it stayed with me. Truth is, the best story ideas scare me a little. And I really do wish I were brave enough to bike at night for fun. A few days later, I returned to the website to watch the video on how it works and then read reviews on Visijax.com. One customer comment in particular gave me some hope: The lights are really, really bright and even when theyre not on, the yellow is unmissable. So I ordered one.Unlike my other cycling jackets, this unisex model had 23 built-in LED lights and reflectors strategically placed throughout, including the chest, arms and back. It comes with a small, lightweight, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery pack that lasts roughly 30 hours. It discreetly plugs into the jacket via an inside pocket and hidden cable.Flicking the lights on or off is easy. You just push the power button sticker on the front of the jacket, which connects to the battery, and choose from three operating modes: one tap to switch on front and rear lights (slow flash), a second tap for quick flashing mode, and a third to display all lights with no flashing. A fourth tap turns it all off and youre back to just a regular, no-frills neon jacket.The coolest part: Motion-activated turn signals in the sleeves (on the front and back, just below the shoulders) flash for about 5 to 10 seconds when you indicate youre heading left or right. This way, youre better able to communicate your riding intentions to others at all times.The testOn an unusually warm night this fall, my friend Tishon met me outsidee my Brooklyn apartment at 7:15 p.ddddddddddddm. to bike about eight miles round-trip, heading north towards Williamsburg. I felt good about this little adventure because its a route Ive done many times in daylight and Tishons one of my badass friends who enjoys pedaling after hours. The minute I walked outside and switched on the jacket, I lit up like a Christmas tree. From the look of surprise on Tishons face, it really felt like Xmas, too.We laughed over my light show, then hit the road, down the highly trafficked street of Vanderbilt Ave. Using the well-marked bike lanes helped ease my nerves. My jacket was so bright that I didnt even use my standard mounted bike lights. When it was time to make a right turn, I happily flung my arms out to signal my plans. So far, so good.Once in Williamsburg, we veered to the left (arm up!) to this hidden little park overlooking the East River and Manhattans twinkling skyline. Then, after about 20 minutes of star and skyscraper gazing, we headed back south, toward home, but first we stopped for tacos. This afforded me another half-dozen brilliant turns onto main roads and side streets. By the time we got to my apartment around 10 p.m., I felt like a bonafide night rider. The cherry on top was when my neighbor Pepper, who was standing outside the building, looked at my shining armor with envy and asked where she could get one.What I likedFull disclosure: I love bright things. I own a fluorescent pink bike helmet and snazzy white sneakers. So I was kinda excited to wear this highlighter-yellow number out in public. That said, even I was a little self-conscious (see cons below), but I did feel very hard-to-miss. Knowing that my fashion statement would stop traffic did make me feel extra safe. This ultimately allowed me to enjoy stepping outside my comfort zone and expand my little world.What I didnt likeAs much as I love all that glitters and glows, I still felt a little shy in this hello-high-beams number. Its hard not to feel geeky in safety apparel in general (looking at you, knee pads), especially something this eye-catching. Also, I was pretty warm under all of these lights. The rainproof fabric, coated with Teflon to keep you dry, is breathable thanks to air vents, but on this temperate night it felt toasty. I had to roll up the sleeves to my elbows to let in the cool breeze as we rode, and that seemed to do the trick.Another concern: The motion sensors didnt always pick up on my turn signals. As the night wore on, my gestures became a bit more elaborate to set off the flashing. That could be because I only charged the battery for an hour beforehand. It probably needed a few more hours to be fully charged.Worth it?Yes, though I havent completely gone to the dark side. Riding on a cool, sunny day in a car-free zone will always be my preference. But with this jacket, I feel less vulnerable, more protected and truly open to opportunities to experience my favorite activity in a new way. In fact, I already have evening plans with another friend to hit the town on two wheels next week. Yup, Im officially taking this dazzling show on the road, and would recommend it if visibility is one of the key reasons holding you back from riding at night too. ' ' '